Underwood Park

This park, located in the Clinton Hill Historic District, was the site of the mansion of typewriter manufacturer John Thomas Underwood (1857-1937). In the late 19th and early 20th century, “The Hill” attracted many wealthy industrialists and merchants. The stately homes built by the Pratts, the Pfizers, and the Bedfords during this period included 336 Washington Avenue, Underwood’s red brick and brownstone house, with a glass-enclosed greenhouse.
Underwood emigrated from London, England to America as a teenager in 1873. He joined his father in business in John Underwood & Company. Beginning in that year, they pioneered the manufacture of typewriter supplies, carbon paper, and other accessories to support the early typewriters which were first manufactured commercially by E. Remington & Sons. Underwood and his brother Frederick moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn a decade later. In 1895 he bought the patent to Franz X. Wagner’s invention of the &ldqu